Photographers' artistic examination of fiction and documentation again is the theme of our new exhibition Reconstruction and Simulation, as it was in one of our group exhibitions in 1999, Constructed Reality.

It would be no exaggeration to say that the contemporary vision has to a large extent been trained by photography and cinema. These two media have been erected in reference to realism and, at the same time, as a refuge of illusion. While on the one hand, from the very dawn of the medium people focused on its mechanical nature (and hence its inherent objectivity), from its very early days it was also open to manipulation and photomontage. Rejlander and Robinson produced their first works, cutting and combining parts of a different negative, in the 1850s. Fading Away, one of Robinson's best known works, dates from 1858 and was a cause for rejection and controversy when its author demonstrated, at a lecture to the Royal Photographic Society, the system he had used to combine the five constituent negatives. Robinson subsequently decided that it was better to keep the system secret and to let the audience enjoy the work. Méliès for his part, produced his first rigged films in 1896, a year after the introduction of the cinematograph, using the new medium to film his Theatre Houdini’s magic show.

It is difficult today to see Méliès innocent tricks without a benevolent smile. The crudeness of the deceit is stunning. But it goes to reinforce the historical nature of realism. What for us is an evident manipulation was a source of astonishment to the inexperienced eye of the spectators of his time.

In their manipulations, both Robinson and Méliès were operating in the post-photographic and post-cinematic; the former by combining negatives or positives, the latter by means of superimposition. But however important these techniques of manipulation were; they can sometimes blind us to another, much simpler, factor: the intervention in the “pro-photographic” or “pro-cinematic”: the construction or manipulation of scenarios or situations to match the guidelines of presentation. It was not merely a question of reflecting the real, as the camera always does, but of making that real identify with a reality of another type, of introducing into a culture of the gaze. (…)

Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf shows works by the artist Jörg Sasse from the new series ‚Cotton Paintings’.

Whereas works from the series ‘Tableaus’ and ‘Skizzen’ (sketches) had already existing photographs as initial point, the recent works are based on scanned fabrics. In the subsequent digital editing compositions of forms and structures evolve reminding us of painting rather than photography.

The reference to painting is already implied in the title of the new works - deliberately they are named ‘Paintings’. Jörg Sasse had therefore collected fabrics from diverse archives. Each design is edited on computer and compounded to new configurations. His approach in its method is similar to the collage. The overlaps in the final works stay often perceptible.

Being a device working with light, the scanner is attributed to the primer input tools of the photography. In the process of editing Jörg Sasse uses techniques of collage and painting. In the end the structures of the diverse creations of the particular fabrics become not only visible, but they also determine the great tactile attraction of the new works. The images are printed with pigmented ink on paper made of 100% cotton. The surface is matt and open.

Questions concerning the conditions and origins of an photographic image already raised by Jörg Sasse in his series ‘Tableaus’ and ‘Skizzen’ are pursued consequently in his recent works: Which criteria define a photography and which categories specify a painting? Which are the essential components to define photography in comparison to other media? And how relevant or negotiable is this borderline between the media in the context of contemporary art production?

Jörg Sasse (*1962) is one of the most renowned artists working in the medium photography. His works are part of outstanding institutional and corporate art collections worldwide such as Guggenheim Museum, New York, Banco Espirito Santo Photography Collection, Lissabon, MUMOK, Vienna, Kunsthalle Zürich, Fotomuseum Winterthur and Städel Museum, Frankfurt. Jorg Sasse has internationally shown his works in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

From July 10th on the recent series will be also on view at the exhibition ‘Serendipity - Vom Glück des Findens’ at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld and will be published in the accompanying catalogue.

Frankfurter Kunstverein is showing a comprehensive exhibition of the American artist Trevor Paglen.

In his photographs, photo series and books,Trevor Paglen (b. 1974 in Maryland, USA) reveals military locations, secret organizations and surveillance objects, whose existence is supposed to be hidden from the public. The artist’s projects are dedicated to mostly highly volatile
sociopolitical themes and produce an enormous media echo. Through detailed research, supported by scientists, astronomers, activists and engeneers and through the use of state-of-theart photo-technology, he manages to find, document and reveal state-arranged and undemocratically authorized monitoring and surveillance. In his haunting and aesthetic pictures of military sites, drones and satellites, he combines documentary projection with media and photo theoretical discourse. Depending on the content of his motif, Paglen chooses photographic stylistic means such as blurring, exposure time and zoom and reflects his motif through the act of seeing and optical devices. Spacious shut-in and hidden military sites, whose directive is to collect and connect realms of data, are for example subjected to a microscopic view through the use of special tele-photo techniques. At this visual plane, the relationship the site takes toward the world is reversed. He raises the unfocused and vague to a category in itself. This leads one to take a closer look. Because his pictures are of what is invisible and officially non-existent, they could be understood as “state-of-eexeption photography”.

Alongside a comprehensive selection of existing photography, this exhibit of Trevor Paglen’s works will also present new productions together with materials and documents from his research.

Trevor Paglen will be honored with the cultural prize 2015 of the German Photographic Association on June 21, 2015 at Frankfurter Kunstverein.

“Trevor Paglen: The Octopus” takes place in context of RAY 2015 Fotografieprojekte Frankfurt Rhein / Main is also a collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation of Normative Orders” at the Goethe University Frankfurt.

“Art has accompanied me all my life; it's part of my life, part of my curiosity.” – Kostas Murkudis

Kostas Murkudis (b. 1959, Dresden) is a crosser of borders. On a constant search for new challenges and ideas, he roams between fashion and the visual arts. His presentation forms undermine the conventions of the fashion world and his designs address performative, sculptural and conceptual issues; together, they change our accustomed conception of fashion.

Kostas Murkudis is among the most influential designers in Germany. His oeuvre occupies a realm between free artistic endeavour and commercial work for the fashion industry. In the position of creative director, he has developed fashion lines and looks for companies such as New York Industrie, Pringle of Scotland, Closed and, most recently, Ter et Bantine. In 1994, he founded his own label—KOSTAS MURKUDIS—and over the years has frequently cooperated with artists in the creation of his designs. With his “laboratory collections,” Murkudis has been experimenting with fashion independently of the industry's marketing and production conditions since 2009.

In 2013, Murkudis donated three complete fashion lines of the past years to the MMK. Parts of these collections are here being presented in combination with earlier and more recent ones as well as individual Murkudis creations in an exhibition designed by the artist Carsten Nicolai and the architect Aaron Werbick. For the presentation at the MMK 2, Murkudis has moreover selected numerous works from the museum's holdings which he is staging in dialogue with his own designs and works. The exchange with art, an aspect Murkudis describes as central to his life and work, is here made comprehensively visible for the first time.

The opening on Thursday, 16 July will be accompanied by a summer party featuring Dj hell and many refreshing drinks.

Curated by Peter Gorschlüter

Publication
The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive monograph on Kostas Murkudis published by Prestel.

Supporters
The exhibition is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Sparkassen-Kulturfonds of the German Savings Banks Association, and Gahrens + Battermann GmbH Media Event Solutions.

Civilization raises hopes – civilization is terrifying. These feelings are palpable in the inimitable works of art by the American artist Doug Aitken. His spectacular film and sound works take visitors on a synaesthetic journey around the world and into themselves – in an irresistible maelstrom of expressive images and rhythmic landscapes. With four expansive film installations and correlating sculptures as well as a site-specific sound installation, the exhibition will present an overview of the internationally renowned artist’s heterogeneous oeuvre throughout the entire exhibition area of the SCHIRN – and beyond. Aitken’s kaleidoscopic universe revolves around life’s existential questions, yet it does not supply any simple answers. Instead, the artist lends expression to an almost naïve fascination with being human and people’s sense of collectivity and cooperation. Consequently, the recent projects by the Los Angeles-based artist have redefined the exhibition format and gained him worldwide attention, for instance through the illumination of the exterior walls of museums, like at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., or through an elaborately staged happening with the participation of various artists on the Station to Station train journey from New York to San Francisco lasting several weeks.

This summer, the Photography Triennial RAY 2015 once again presents outstanding positions of contemporary photography at 12 venues in Frankfurt and the Rhine/Main region. From June 20 until September 20, the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, the Museum Angewandte Kunst and the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main are collectively presenting the RAY 2015 exhibition Imagine Reality. 28 contemporary artists have taken fragments of reality as sources to create imaginary and visionary worlds. In doing this, they move between documentary, applied and artistic photography.

Today's unlimited possibilities for producing and manipulating images have opened a multifaceted spectrum for capturing and interpreting these scenarios of transformation. Visual worlds have emerged that testify our present day and point to our future at the same time. How can we or how would we like to see the world today? How does the abstraction or the deconstruction of everyday realities generate new perspectives both through and in photography? How do the artists use visual languages to go beyond the documentary? In what ways do they reflect upon the philosophical and existential aspects of the human and material condition of our time? The exhibition introduces artistic propositions that free themselves from the claims of authenticity and question the flood of private and public images. Real and virtual space, documentation and staging penetrate their expressions and lead to an expansion of reality.

With all of the various processes and possibilities of the medium, this exhibition shows what these artists have in common. Their images transform the environment into a world in which reality and fiction, facts and illusion are inseparably woven together.

Next to the exhibition Imagine Reality, RAY 2015 supports 12 artists' new productions and nine further partner projects in Frankfurt and the Rhine/Main region.